What Is Schizophrenia?

What Is Schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia affects about 1 in 100 people in the United States.

This serious psychiatric disorder is one of the most disabling mental health issues. It can cause disordered thinking, delusions, and hallucinations. It affects how a person feels, thinks, and behaves. (1)

Nonetheless, it's possible for people with schizophrenia to live relatively normal lives.

There are treatments available to help reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia, although coping with the disease can be a lifelong struggle, and it has no cure. (2)

Schizophrenia Prevalence: How Common Is the Disease?

About 1 in 100 people have schizophrenia, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. (3)

Men typically start to show symptoms of schizophrenia in their late teens or early twenties. Women tend to show symptoms a bit later, usually in their late twenties or early thirties. Sometimes women show symptoms of schizophrenia for the first time around menopause. (4)

Men are about 1.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than women, according to a review of studies published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews. (5)

Schizophrenia can occur at any age, but it's less commonly diagnosed for the first time in a person older than 40 or younger than 12.

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Is It Schizophrenia? What to Know About the Symptoms

Schizophrenia symptoms usually first appear early in life, during a person's late teen years through their early thirties. People with schizophrenia may display unusual behaviors and symptoms that can be upsetting for friends and family. These symptoms include hallucinations (when a person sees, hears, smells, or feels things that aren’t there), delusions (illogical or untrue beliefs), disorganized thinking and speaking, unusual body movements, and problems with memory, attention, and concentration.

While many of the symptoms can be controlled over time with proper treatment, symptoms of schizophrenia may be severe, and schizophrenia diagnosis can be difficult.

The rate of suicide is higher among people with schizophrenia than in the general population. People with schizophrenia account for roughly 1 in 10 suicides in the United States, according to the physician-run website UpToDate. (4)

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Risk Factors and Causes of Schizophrenia

Experts have long debated the causes of schizophrenia, including whether schizophrenia is hereditary. There doesn’t appear to be just one cause of schizophrenia. Researchers now believe several genetic changes and other factors can increase the risk of schizophrenia. (2)

Risk factors for schizophrenia may include the following:

Genetics Certain genes have been linked to an increased risk of schizophrenia, but no single gene appears to be responsible for the disease.

Defects in those genes may increase the risk of schizophrenia by causing chemicals in the brain to malfunction.

In 2014, more than 300 scientists from around the world compared the genomes of 37,000 people with schizophrenia with more than 113,000 people without the disease in the biggest-ever genetic schizophrenia study to date. They found 128 distinct gene variants that were associated with schizophrenia. They reported their findings in the journal Nature. (6)

Schizophrenia tends to run in families, though not everyone who has a parent with schizophrenia will get the disease. In fact, about 1 in 10 people with a parent or sibling who has schizophrenia will develop the disease in their lifetime. (2)

Among people with schizophrenia, most of the risk of developing the disorder (80 percent) seems to be related to genetic factors (which include particular genotypes, variations in genomes, and family history), according to a study of Danish twins published in the March 2018 issue of Biological Psychiatry. (7)

The family link is most evident in identical twins. If one twin is diagnosed with schizophrenia, the other has a 50 percent chance of developing the disease. (2)

Brain Chemicals Problems with certain chemicals in the brain may increase your risk of developing schizophrenia. (2) These chemicals, called neurotransmitters, help brain cells in different parts of the brain communicate with one another.

Uterine Environment Researchers have linked exposure to certain viruses or malnutrition in the womb to schizophrenia. (2)

Drug Use Some scientific studies suggest that using mind-altering drugs, specifically marijuana, especially during the teenage years and early adulthood, can increase the risk of schizophrenia. (2)

Treating Schizophrenia Symptoms

Over the past 30 years, researchers have identified more than 100 genes that may increase the risk of schizophrenia and have begun finding novel pathways and making other discoveries that may help identify new targets for drug therapy

There is no cure for schizophrenia, and as with many diseases that can be managed but not cured, early detection and treatment are important. Seek medical treatment if you or someone you know might be experiencing signs of psychosis or schizophrenia. Early treatment can improve a person’s chance for a successful recovery. What’s more, proper treatment helps minimize symptoms and improve quality of life. Yet even after symptoms have ceased and schizophrenia is managed, most people with schizophrenia require ongoing drug and nondrug treatment.

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Different Types of Schizophrenia

You may have heard of someone with paranoid schizophrenia or disorganized schizophrenia.

People with schizophrenia may show a number of symptoms, including delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech and behavior.

In the past, doctors split schizophrenia patients into five subtypes depending on their dominant symptoms.

Guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Association in 2013 eliminated schizophrenia subtypes, because they weren't very helpful to doctors. (8) That’s because schizophrenia symptoms can change over time, and symptoms may overlap. The new guidelines opted instead for a broader schizophrenia definition.

People with paranoid delusions are often said to have paranoid schizophrenia. Paranoid delusions may make it difficult for a person with schizophrenia to cooperate with treatment and can increase the likelihood of problems, such as homelessness. (4.)

What Is Schizoaffective Disorder?

People with schizoaffective disorder typically show symptoms of a mood disorder, such as mania or depression, alongside schizophrenia symptoms.

In the past, the process of diagnosing schizoaffective disorder may have been imprecise. Today, there is a distinction between having schizophrenia and mood episodes and having schizoaffective disorder.

Because the symptoms can overlap, it is not always clear whether a person has bipolar disorder or depression with psychotic features, post-traumatic stress disorder, or a schizophrenialike illness, such as schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

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Schizophrenia Myths and Facts

One of the biggest myths about schizophrenia is that people with schizophrenia have split, or multiple, personalities.

Having multiple personalities, or split personalities, is a symptom of a different mental illness called dissociative identity disorder.

Experts say that the media is partially responsible for some public misconceptions about schizophrenia. Movies and television shows often perpetuate the myth that all people with schizophrenia are dangerous.

This type of misunderstanding can be harmful for people with schizophrenia.

Some people with schizophrenia may have violent outbursts, and there’s a small subset of people with schizophrenia who can be dangerous. The risk of harm to others is increased in people who are not currently in treatment, as well as people who are acutely psychotic, often with paranoid or other delusions involving others potentially harming them in some way. Overall, the rate of violence committed by people with schizophrenia is very small; in fact, people with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims of violence as opposed to perpetrators.

When people with schizophrenia use drugs or alcohol, the risk of violence directed toward others is increased.

However, most people with schizophrenia pose no danger to others. The vast majority of people with schizophrenia tend to withdraw from society when they are experiencing symptoms.

Myths, false information, and misunderstandings about a serious disease such as schizophrenia can be especially troubling for newly diagnosed people and their support network. Take advantage of credible medical resources and searchable databases to provide information and support for people with schizophrenia.

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Schizophrenia in Children

When schizophrenia develops in children younger than 13, it's called childhood-onset or pediatric schizophrenia.

Pediatric schizophrenia is a very rare — and often very severe — form of the disorder. It's estimated to affect about 1 in 40,000 people. (9)

Schizophrenia is difficult to diagnose in young children. Many of its typical symptoms resemble those of more common childhood disorders, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (9)

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